Great upsell!
We received a call about 6 years ago from the upsell fairy. We went from an regular interior to regular balcony for $200. Ever since then, we've booked balconies! We love the aft-extended and we are so spoiled now!

We had an aft wrap on the Victory out of San Juan. 6 islands in 7 days, it was wonderful to wake up every morning watching us pull in to port!! The sunsets at the end of the day where outstanding.
We booked deck 6 because it is the largest aft. We also book starboard side and did not hear ANY noise from down below, as was heard if you book deck 6 port side.
The deck 6 room was HUGE (I could do cartwheels). In addition, we booked the kids in the L-shaped cabin and shared the same little hallways, just for these two cabins. It was like our own suite.
Not only that, my parents booked the aft-extended next to us.
Needless to say, we had the bowling alley balcony, my HUGE aft wrap balcony, and the aft-extended all open for us to use (I asked the steward to open both doors to the balconies).
I would book them again but now I've been spoiled by the Cloud 9 Spa ships and would take a spa cabin over an aft balcony, but if I take my parents again, I would do the aft balcony because they are older and not as mobile and LOVED sitting out there day and night.

We had a mid-ship 8th floor balcony just below the buffet and heard chair scraping.
An aft all the way back won't hear much deck scratching from the pool, unless the pool deck is above you.
I have a question about 8450 on Splendor, is that the corner aft-extended next to the aft-wrap?
I heard that the 8450 balcony and the one on the other side (on deck 8) are larger than the regular aft-facing decks.
Anyone confirm or deny?

[quote name='SummerXU']The 2 afts that are left are side-by-side on the Upper deck, in the middle: 6458 and 6489[/QUOTE]
Deck 6? Is there a nightclub underneath? If you do deck 6 aft (we were deck 6 aft on the Victory), stay as far starboard side as you can. The deck 6 aft's on the port side (at least on the Victory) heard music at night.

Wow, I thought this was going to be something serious with Splendor but it's only someone stating a complaint about something that could occur on ANY ship.
Back to dreaming of my upcoming Splendor cruise...

I'd take the AFT balcony! We love the aft, and I also like the view, sun and light wind.
We had the L shaped for my daughters when we took the aft wrap. I did not care for the L shaped because the balcony was cold, windy, and never got any sun.
What 2 afts are left? Picking the aft may depend on which floor and if it is an end cabin or in the middle.

My two D's have been begging me to take them to Atlantis. I'm not into the hype. The first cruise that stopped in Atlantis was detoured.
The next time we were planning to stop in Nassua, my D's met other kids on the ship whose parents were more than happy to take mine to Atlantis and save us the $$$$$.
My kids came back unimpressed (surprisingly) and one even had a bout of food poisoning (she believes it was undercooked chicken fingers from that she paid $$$$ over by the pool hut).
Having been to Nassau now a few times, I have no desire to return. Last time we used it as a port to just get out and stretch out legs, walked around the shopping area and returned to the ship.

We received a free cabin offer 2 years ago (book Spa interior on the Splendor for a little over $200 for two for an 8-day cruise :) ) but it was NOT based on the casino (trust me, I barely play $20 in the slots).
I haven't received a free cabin offer since (I am sure they mistakenly gave it to me 2 years ago). We have since booked a cruise and now my parents want to join us. He was offered a great casino rate, but when I did a mock booking, in the end the price is the same as what we paid with early saver rate.
Not a very good casino deal. :( Still holding out for a good deal for them.

I would take a 7 day cruise over a 5 day cruise anyday.
I would take any cruise line cover another based on itinerary only.
I would not hesitate to book an interior if it meant 2 more days on a ship!!
No airfare is icing on the cake! Enjoy your cruise, whichever you decide!

[quote name='sgttami']
I've been on Splendor 5X.....don't see the need to change a thing but I'm really bummed that there are no winter sailings from New York on any Carnival ship.[/QUOTE]
i hear you on that! Carnival, please come back to New York in winter! Just when I was about to book cruises from New York to escape the winter, Carnival pulls out!
Looking forward to sailing Splendor out of Miami next January. I sailed Splendor out of New York 2 years ago and loved the ship (loved the spa cabins and amenities). From now on, I prefer to book ships with Cloud 9 Spa.
I don't mind the pink! Loved this ship though!

I've only taken about 3 or so Carnival cruises but the only time I saw the towel animals on the pool chairs was our last cruise 2 years ago on the Splendor out of New York.
Neither our Victory southern caribbean out of San Juan nor our Western Caribbean Liberty cruise out of Miami did this to the towel animals at the pool deck.

Any other updates on this excursion? I see that Carnival has an excursion here as part of a snorkel trip.
With the cost of taxi to and from here, I think we are going to go with the ship sponsored tour. With that, we get transportation, snorkel equipment and a guided tour. Snorkeling, I hear, is some of the best on the island right there.

If you plan on renting a car and driving around Miami, I highly suggest you either get a pre-paid toll pass or set your GPS to NO TOLLS.
We just returned last month from a land vacation in South Beach with a rental car and found that a lot of tolls in the area require SUNPASS - No Cash. If you go through these exchanges without a pre-paid toll pass you will be charge about $15 plus the toll - each violation.

In Cozumel, the most inexpensive beach excursion would be to Paradise Beach where you pay minimal for pool/chair entry and taxi.
I have been reading about a very small beach around around the Monkey Bar area, which you apparently could walk from the port.
We went to Mr. Sanchos which is costly, this trip we are planning on going to Papito's, which is costly for cab fare but I did find a Carnival excursion there which I am looking in to.
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Roatan the cheapest way is Mahogany Beach right there at the cruise ship port. We are planning to go to Tabyana Beach, we went on our last cruise and I feel it is the best snorkeling anywhere! I want to go back just to see it again!
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Belize inexpensively is just the port shops area, but I did read that there is some sort of flea market outside the port area to your right. We took a 2 hour bus trip to the ruins so I didn't get a chance to really see Belize's port area, but I will say that the countryside is beautiful and should not be judged by what you see outside the port area of the City.